Should Internet be considered a utility?

hey guys im new here (this is my first post) but I want you guys help on something if you don't mind

basically i was just reading the Verge's article about how "the internet is fucked" and it mention that because the internet is so important to everyday life that it should be counted as a utility. I was wondering how you guys felt about this and created a straw poll. I'm also currently making a speech to give in Public Speaking about Net Neutrality so if i get a significant amount of votes in either direction i'll use it in my speech but mainly im just curious. I'll post results in increments through the next few days.

Here's the Straw poll: http://strawpoll.me/1488141

Here's the article i was talking about: http://www.theverge....ernet-is-fucked 

and yes if you have an account on Linustechtip.com then this is familiar cause i posted it there as well. As an after thought i thought that maybe i should've said common carrier instead of Utility but eh whatever.

By definition, yes.

Since in many developed countries internet access is expected by both banks and the government it must even be considerd into some form of a civil right. Not necessarily broadband but good enough to efficiently make use of the services that a citizen is expected to. In ways it could (by how people area already using the internet) now even be argued to be part of the right to/freedom of assembly.

i feel like atleast 10 down and 2 up should be guaranteed  and then you can pay for more if you want a faster speed.

Yes, the internet, like water, phone, sewage, roads, railways, natural gas and electricity should be a utility.

 

These things are natural monopolies and as such should be run without the profit motive becoming a factor. Whine all you want about "government pork spending" it doesn't change the fact that across the board that government run programs have the lowest overhead possible because they don't have to fork over millions to the executives or shareholders, they only have to provide the service that they are tasked with providing.

it should be a utility but it needs challenged so that one isp doesn't rule them all like china  

This comes up allot, it's a natural monopoly, you don't run water lines from multiple companies to your house, why would you need more then one fiber line to your home?

 

If you mean abuse by the government, we've already got that, having private companies run the lines hasn't prevented that at all as they where all too happy to let the NSA do whatever they wanted.

 

Every building in the US should have 1Gbit symmetrical at a minimum. Schools, companies and hospitals should have 10Gbit symmetrical. The only dangerous scenario in this world is if the personal computer died off and everyone ended up using a thin client with all of their processing done "in the cloud'.

Yes, for one reason only. It used to be that all you needed to apply for a job was a way to get to their location....nowadays you drive to their location only to be told to apply online.